National Pupils and Students Union of Côte d'Ivoire

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National Pupils and Students Union of Côte d'Ivoire (in French: Union National des Elèves et Etudiants de Côte d'Ivoire), generally called U.N.E.E.C.I., was an organization of students and pupils in Côte d'Ivoire founded at a constitutive conference in July 1964. The first president of the organization was Koffi Konan Antoine (later ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire in Cameroon). U.N.E.E.C.I. was established as the sole legal student organization by the regime of Félix Houphouët-Boigny in 1965.

U.N.E.E.C.I. was allotted an annual funding of 15 million Francs CFA through the Ministry of Education.

Antoine was later replaced by Yébouet Lazare.

The second congress of U.N.E.E.C.I. was held in Treichville Cultural Centre in 1967. The preconference discussions centred around two themes: the repression during the anti-M.E.O.C.A.M. protests just before the congress and allegations of misuse of the government funds allotted to U.N.E.E.C.I. At the Treichville congress Koné Tiémoko was elected as president. Tiémoko was seen as a compromise candidate, somewhat distanced from the progovernment forces that that dominated the leadership until then. Tiémoko had been the president of the unit of U.N.E.E.C.I. at Ecole Normale Supérieure.

In July 1969 a third congress was held. There were three candidates for the presidency: Tiémoko, Amara Karamoko (president of the unit of University of Abidjan) and Laurent Gbagbo. The counting of votes was interrupted as soldiers stormed the congress venue. One week later Houphouët-Boigny declared the dissolution of U.N.E.E.C.I.. The government party P.D.C.I. later motivated the move through the allegation that U.N.E.E.C.I. had developed relations to 'foreign extremist political parties'.

Notably the committee of U.N.E.E.C.I. in France refused to acknowledge the dissolution, and continued to function as an independent organization.

Source: Gbagbo, Laurent: Côte d'Ivoire, Pour une alternative démocratique. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1983.